A new enemy
by Krikr
Summary: Saren may be dead and the geths defeated, but it won't stop the reapers from coming. And someone tried to kill Shepard. AU of ME2 where Shepard doesn't die at the beggining and both Ashley and Kaidan are alive (among other things).
1. Normandy attacked

**AN: This is the first of a series of one-shots in a ME2 AU.**

 **Any review is better than none at all.**

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There was fire almost everywhere, sirens were blazing and the crew was evacuating the ship.  
Gabriel was putting his helmet on when he heard someone running to him.

"Gabriel!" shouted Ashley as an explosion rocked the Normandy  
"I'm launching the distress beacon.. The Alliance will be here in a few days at most. Get everyone to the escape shuttles!"  
"Kaidan is already taking care of it but Joker is still in the cockpit, he won't abandon ship. And I'm not leaving you either."  
"I need you and Kaidan to get the crew to the evac shuttles. I'll take care of Joker."

As he stumbled toward the mess area, an explosion, stronger than the last, made him lose balance for a few seconds.  
"Commander..." she hesitated  
"Ashley, Go. Now."  
"Aye, aye."  
While she left, Gabriel finished preparing the distress beacon and launched it.  
As the fire burned everything around him, he began to run toward the mess area, and, behind it, the stairs to the top deck.

When the door opened, a sudden rush of air pushed him a step or two forward as the emptiness of space, without any hull to separate it from the interior of the ship, was now aspiring any last air that was inside. Slowly, Gabriel walked past the galaxy map, the terminals that were the CIC, some of them surprisingly still running. He looked up, trying to see what had attacked them but couldn't recognize anything, hoping that at least the camera inside his helmet would record the attacker.  
He also got lost in toughts at the view of the planet that the Normandy was falling toward, with the chairs slowly spinning above the floor. Space was _beautiful_. It had been one of the reasons he had enlisted after all.  
Shaking his head, he resumed his walk toward the cockpit, traversed the forcefield keeping the air inside, and grabbed Joker's arm.  
"Come on, Joker! We have to get out of here!"  
"No! I won't abandon the Normandy, I can still save her!" he looked woeful  
"The Normandy's lost Joker, going down with the ship won't change that."  
Joker lowered his head, silent for a few seconds.  
"Yeah.. Okay. help me up." as he tried to do so.

Suddently, Joker looked to the end of the ship and shouted.  
"They're coming around for another attack!"  
Gabriel took a glance at where he was looking and saw a light shining brighter and brighter by the second. The main cannon of their attacker.  
Panicking, Gabriel grabbed Joker's arm and, ignoring his protests, half dragged him toward the shuttle and helped him get inside.  
The enemy beam hit the Normandy, intending to finish the ship off.  
Another explosion hit him, sending him into the opposing wall. Pivoting until he was crouching on it, Gabriel pushed his legs and managed to get into the shuttle.  
Joker hurriedly pulled the lever, closing the door.  
The pilot barely had the time to put the security harness on when the shuttle was ejected, Gabriel, not having been as lucky, had barely sit when he was thrown against the wall where he finally had the time to put his harness on.

What followed were a couple of minutes of silence,neither of them knowing what to say, until they could hear what was, without doubt, the sound of the shuttle on entry in an atmosphere. Joker looked at the screen on his side,a timer showed that, at the speed at which they were going (they had reached terminal velocity), the parachute would open in two minutes. Once it opened, the rest of the descent was relatively calmer.  
Gabriel finally spoke.  
"Sorry about your arm up there, Joker. I panicked."  
"No problem, you didn't brake anything and I was being a stubborn moron. Still, to think that the Normandy is gone like that..."

Trying to divert his attention from the destruction of his beloved ship, Gabriel looked at the screen, now showing informations about their landing zone and the planet in general.  
"Joker, once we've landed, look for an environmental suit. According to the inventory of the shuttle, there should be one under your seat."  
"Why? Where are we?"  
"Alchéra. It's an icy planet, it has a pressure 20% lower than Earth, average temperature of -22° and it's atmosphere is not breathable by humans."  
"Everything that we'd ever want a planet to be."

A relatively low shock signaled them that they had landed a minute or two after. Joker immediately undid his harness and kneeled in front of his seat, searching for a handle, finding it after a few seconds.  
Turns out each seats had one compartment under it, with enough rations bars and water for a few days to two weeks (depending on how they were consuming them) and an environmental suit for planet with different pressure, atmosphere or temperature than humans were accustomed to. Their was also a portable radiator for the shuttle, a radio, and a small beacon. The radio was for contacting other shuttles and the beacon was for giving a precise location for every landed shuttle to the ship that would be rescuing them.

Gabriel pressed the radio.  
"Commander Shepard here. I've landed a few minutes ago without problem. Joker is with me and we're fine. Anyone recieving me? Over."  
It was only a couple seconds until the answers came.  
"Lieutenant Alenko here. I'm with five other people, we are fine and landed half an hour ago. Over."  
"Gunnery Chief Williams here. Same. Over."  
"Lieutenant Gregory Adams here. We're five and we're fine. Over."  
"Chakwas here. Same. Over."  
"Err... Mykhalia Yemima here. We're three. One of us hurt his leg but it doesn't look permanent. Over."  
"Marianne Ella. We're two. We're okay. Over."  
"So, Commander, what do we do ?"  
"Stay where we are and wait for someone to rescue us. It'll probably take a few days. I advice to stay in the shuttles as much as possible to save air. You can walk around but always stay within view of your shuttle, precise how long you'll be out and inform others about the direction you're going. If anything happend, radio me, Alenko, Chakwas, Adams or Williams for instruction. There should be a survival guide somewhere in your shuttle. Over."

The next five days were dull, empty, boring. Even the novelty of a snow planet (Gabriel hasn't seen snow in _years_ ) worn off after a moment. The radios were used every day to keep each other company. During this time, they began mourning their dead, Damla, Orfeo, and many others. 17 had died in that attack. Even with replaying the few images they had revealed little about their enemy.

They were called Collectors, they came from somewhere beyond the Omega-4 relay and that was pretty much it.

Fortunatly for them, an Alliance vessel picked them up after five days.  
Even if the were eating standard Alliance meals, all of them were happy to eat something that those rations bars.  
Leo Basma, the captain of the ship, had welcomed them personally and had not lost a moment asking Gabriel about what had happend to them. To his dismay, none of them knew enough to satisfy his curiosity and Gabriel's report was bare-bones, merely stating that they had been attacked by an unknown vessel they suspected being Colletcor's, had lost their ship and 17 men, and had been stranded on Alchéra five days.

Without a ship to fly, Chakwas was given a position on the Mars Naval Medical Center, Joker went with her to pilot shuttles and the like, a decision he was extremly unhappy of, Adams was affected to a cruiser and everyone else went to different affectations. Only Kaidan and Ashley remained, Gabriel having 'borrowed' them from the Alliance for 'Spectre business' for an nondefined duration.  
They were friends and both Kaidan and Ashley had made clear that wherever Gabriel went, they would go too. He was also thinking of nominating them for the position, too.

So they waited for Gabriel's next assignement.

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 **AN: Not realyl satisfied with how it ended. But anyway, i'll write more later! Hope you enjoyed it and remember, any review is betterthan no review.**


	2. A new assignment

**Hi! Here's the second in this series of AU one shots. Hope you'll like it.**

 **edit: Didn't see i picked the wrong doc to put in this story until a week later. Sorry.**

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They had returned to the Citadel four or five days ago when Gabriel received the following e-mail:

 _"Spectre Shepard,_  
 _the attack on your ship that ocured eleven days ago is a tragedy and the Council would like to offer his condolences for the loss of your crewmen. Rest assured we have sent a team of experts to analyze it's wreckage for anything that could lead us to the attackers. While your reports mention the possibility it might e Collectors, this appear quite improbable as they don't seem to have anything capable of attacking and destroying a vessel such as the Normandy even less if, as you said, it was cloaked._

 _On another note, an Alliance research team has discovered a strange vessel similar to Sovereign in the system Thorne in the sector Hawking Eta. While many of Sovereign's remains have been found and are currently studied on the Citadel, much more can be learn from a mostly intact similar vessel. A research team will be sent study it in three days and, considering your experience with those sort of Geths vessels, your mission will be to oversee the research team. Miss Williams and Mr Alenko are also welcome to accompany you as their experience with Sovereign could prove useful._

 _You are to meet with_ _Desaetrus Actyn at the dock 45 in the Bachjret Ward. Further details are in the join document._

 _Councilor Valern."_

Gabriel looked up from the screen of his computer.

"Ash!" he shouted  
"What?" came her answer at a slightly lower volume as she made her way to the living room.  
"I've got my new assignment."  
"What is it?"  
"They found another Reaper. But, according to the files they sent me, it's been there for 37 million years."  
"That's way much longer than what Sovereign told us."  
"Yes. It's also almost completley inert so they are sending a scientific team to study it. They added that you and Kaidan are welcome to join me. Since we're the 'experts' on those kind of vessels."  
"They're still not believing Reapers exist."  
"Yes. And honestly, I don't blame them too much. I mean, that would mean admit that we're doomed to all die by giant mecha-squids in a few years."  
"Something interesting?"asked Kaidan having just entered the apartment.  
"Skipper's new mission. By the Council themselves." answered Ashley.  
"Oh! What is it? Pirates, some high ranking guy hostage, catching someone hiding behind a group of cultists?"  
"No. We're overseering a science team that is going to study a vessel similar to Sovereign."  
"Oh. When do we leave?"  
"In three days."

They were passed checking the equipment, buying mods for their weapons and armor.

The 26 November, Gabriel, Ashley and Kaidan made their way to the Bachjret Ward and took longer than they expected to reach dock 45. Thankfully, they still arrived fifteen minutes early.  
They were greeted by a turian.  
"Hello, mister Shepard, I'm Desaetrus Actyn and I'm the one responsible of this expedition. Mr Alenko, Ms Williams."  
He guided them through the sas and into the ship proper.  
"I must say," he continued,"that I'm honored to have the Heroes of the Citadel on my ship. If I was correctly informed, the ship that attacked the Citadel has similarities to the one we are going to study?"  
"Some at the very least. They both are incredibly ancients and, according to the files we have been given, appear to have been made by similar species."

Gabriel, he and Ashley had also debated on what to say to the scientists that would have to examine the Reapers. On one hand, they should at the very least know what they were going to study. on the other hand, informing everyone of the Reapers' existence would either cause mass panic or have them labelled as crazy conspirationists for the rest of their lives.

"We're very luck you were the ones designed to accompany us, being the ones with the most contact with the ship that attacked us a few months ago, I have little doubt our scientists will be glad to talk to you."  
"Unfortunatly sir," interrupted Ashley," our contact with Sovereign (that's how Saren named the ship that attacked us), was minimal at best and we aren't quite qualified to contribute to the science team."  
"That's still most experience with it than us. Now, the TSF Kuressan is a cargo ship. Most of it's bay is occupied by the infrastructure we're going to build into the vessel. The travel there will take a few hours. Is there something special you want to ask me?"  
"No. Carry on."

"Okay, we're going to split off. I'm pretty sure seeing three humans armed to the teeth is not going to reassure them. Let's meet here in two hours, okay?"  
"Yes.""Yes."

Gabriel made it's way into the cargo hold.

Lots and lots of boxes. Some bigger than the Mako, obviously containing what would be, when deployed, the research station. Some smaller seemed to the furnitures. Some others were labelled "Fragile. Handle with care". In the back, near the ramp, were a couple of shuttles.  
There was a group of people near a counter. Gabriel approached them.  
A few turians, two or three salarians and even a Krogan were discuting about the last match of biotball.  
"...that they cheated, I'm just saying that maybe the cameras didn't catch everything."  
"You're just mad because your team lost."  
"Hello gentlemen. And woman." Gabriel added at the attention of the female turian.  
"Oh. Euh, Hello sir." One of the salarians saluted.  
"No need to salute me yet. So, what are you talking about?"  
"We're off-duty sir, we don't have any work until we reach Mnemosyne."  
"I know and Im not accusing you. I just want to pass the time." he reassured them.  
"Oh. We're talking about last night's biotiball's match. Tri'im is just pissed the turians lost." said a salarian, pointed at his turian collegue.  
"Oh. I'm not really into it myself. I woudl like to know, what is your job here?"  
"We're the manutention workers. We're the one who will have to build everything that's in those boxes. And move around anything the science team tell us to."  
"Aren't you too few for that? Unless I haven't seen the others but,..."  
"No. The shuttles all have a crane attached to their underside so they don't really need too much people for that."  
"Oh, good. Do you mind if I take a look at everything?"  
"Not at all, sir."  
"Thank you."

"So?"  
"Research team seems nice enough. Most of them have next to no idea what it really is. Those that do are sure what incapacitated this Reaper has something to do with The Great Rift of Klendagon. They aren't military." said Kaidan.  
"Same for the guards. There's only thirty or so of them. They were just told to guard whatever the scientisst or us tell them to. They're from ERCS. Their commanding officer here is Galick Kyim." exposed Ashley.  
"Attention to all the crew. We are approaching Mnemosyne and will reach our destination in half an hour. According to our pilot, we're going to have some turbulences so store anything that could cause harm during those turbulences, Squad 1 and the manutention team must prepare the boarding procedure and all personel aside from them must attach themselves."  
They were arrived to the dead Reaper.

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 **You know guys, I've began writing again a month and half ago and since then I got Abolutely. Zro. Review. So please give me one so I know my work is appreciated or disliked. Or even if it's just meh.**

 **Seriously people. I'm torn between outrightbegging for reviews and insulting everyone for not giving me any.**

 **Anyway, See you next time.**


	3. Journal

**Since I tend to write more dialogue than descriptions, this chapter is my attempt to fix that.**

 **Plus, I wanted to try the "Dead Man's journal" thing for a while.**

 **Anyway, onward.**

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 _"26/11: Remember to take notes."_

 _"26/11: Actyn recommended everyone to take notes of what they saw or thought. He said we would compare them daily. Even then, the Council and Alliance are probably going to want a detailed report of the operation and we're here to oversee the scientists. It's a bit strange to be the only three humans on board, especially after the Normandy, but we'll manage._ _"_

 _"27/11: We arrived at our destination. While having there are a few differences between it and Sovereign, it's still long enough (2km) and with enough similarities in design with it that there's little doubt the two are Reapers. Or, if you go with the most common hypothesis, that the geths build it too._

 _Before docking with it, Kyim ordered that five people take a shuttle and tour it to search for anything that could be hostile. I went and piloted the shuttle._

 _The thing is huge. Sure, Sovereign was big and this one is of similar length, but when you're slowly flying all around it in a small shuttle to search for ships or things like that, you're dwarfed by it. I think everyone in the shuttle was uneasy during the flight. We didn't find anything that could be hostile, but we saw this thing has a lot of holes in its hull. Considering it took the whole 5th fleet and half of the Citadel's fleet to bring Sovereign down, everyone is wondering what kind of vessel could have done something to that."_

 _"27/11: Once we were back on the ship and told Actyn that we didn't see anything preventing us from docking the procedure was initiated. It wasn't like I expected. The Kuressan didn't "dock". It flew into the ship by one of the holes and just stopped once inside the Reaper. Then the construction crew got the crane shuttles out and build the main station. It's very basic for now but they assured us they were just beginning. Sure enough, they're still building catwalks everywhere since the Reaper doesn't have conventional hallways and it's half destroyed."_

 _"28/11: None of us three is trained to a scientist and there is nothing to defend the research team against. We're going to be bored quickly. Even if we're getting Extranet, there's still so much you can do until you are bored. While we're quite a lot for this mission: 30 ERCS, 30 scientists, 20_ _engineers, five construction workers and the crew of the ship, there isn't so much to talk about. Kaidan may understand what the scientists are saying, we're still bound to get bored at some point. On another notes, the engineers analyzed some of the components of the ship and they've been clear: this ship has been fired on by an unknown weapon more than thirty billions years ago. This ends the "made by geths" theory. Not that we doubted it of course, but here's no denying that someone made those ship eons ago and that there might be more. Also, the rest of the science team determined that the reason the ship didn't crash into Mnemosyne is that it's somehow still generating a mass effect field that maintains it in orbit. The same mass effect field create an atmosphere in and around the ship which is why we don't need our suits when walking around. Worrying, since nobody saw any trace of someone coming so the mass effect field's been running for thousands, no, millions of years. So we're looking at a kind of technology that can last that long and remain functional. Science team was part giddy and part worried. Giddy because they can't wait to try and replicate it, worried because as now, we have absolutely no way of making anything that last close to this. We haven't explored all the ship yet so we haven't found the generator yet. Research will resume tomorrow.  
Also, I've talked to a few people, they too are getting creeped out by the thing. Glad to know I wasn't the only one."_

 _'29/11: Explored the destroyed ship a lot more but still haven't found the generator. Found those creepy spike the geths used to zombify people. Told everyone to proceed with extreme caution but they started testing it not five minutes later. So this is definitively a Reaper. They are thinking of requesting a few corpses to see if the spikes behave differently. Like what a salarian zombie would look like. Ashley and Kaidan agreed with me: this is extremely likely to end badly. Platforms are still built to reach new areas and the feeling of uneasiness hasn't faded in any of us. It's probably because none of us had a mission like that. On a half-destroyed, millions years old ship. With space and the planet below staring at us when it's not the walls that seem to go on forever and not have any doors until you're right in front of them. I'm even starting to miss Feros and it was depressing as hell."_

 _"30/11: We found the generator. It seems the mechanism that was supposed to protect it doesn't work properly anymore since it's core is exposed one third of the time. That's reassuring to see that this thing, not matter what Sovereign said, is not eternal and that time's the ruler that we all obey. Sent a preliminary report to the Council, showing them that the thing is definitively not geth and dead since 37 millions years ago and was alive for God knows how long before that. Ash says they'll have a new theory that doesn't involve Reaper by tommorow. While I hope she's wrong, I can understand why anything else would be better than admitting Giant-mechasquids kills everyone evolved every 50 000 years."_

 _"1/12: Almsot all the ship has been explored now so there's not much else to do. Even some of the most enthusiasts members of this expedition are starting to feel uneasy. I could even swear I heard someone whisper next to me this afternoon, but I was alone. This place is really getting on my nerves. Now that I think back on it, didn't the people on Virmire mention Sovereign was talking to them and that's how indoctrination began?_ Shit. _Is this how it begins? No. No, the whole place is just getting on me. I'm just not accustomed to this kind of mission. In a week or two it'll pass."_

 _"2/12:_ Shit. _Jokingly told Kaidan and Ashley that i heard them whisper to me tonight and they told me_ I _had been the one whispering to them. I know them, they aren't destabilized by so little as an alien place. But we can't be getting indoctrinated, the thing has been destroyed for 37 BILLIONS years for crying out loud! It's dead! It_ can't _brainwash us! Then again, some of it's sub-systems were still functioning when we got there so maybe it wasn't dead as much as asleep. Crap. Did the same thing happend on the Citadel? Did people around pieces of Sovereign started to hear voices? I don't think so. I mean, someone would have noticed if they did. At the very least none of us is experiencing memory loss so I think we can stay a few days more before leaving. How am I going to present that to actyn and the Council without seeming crazy? Screw looking sane, I'm a Spectre, I can order then to go back to the Citadel and they would have to do it. I hope it won't come to that."_

 _"4/12: We're leaving this. Actyn was reluctant until I showed him a few videos of the Virmire facility, especially of the indoctrinated people. It's a huge disappointment for him but I told him he could go back there as soon as he had a way to prevent his team from becoming brainwashed and crazy into serving a Reaper. The Council won't be happy, but I'm sending them the videos I showed Actyn plus the testimony of everyone who was there when Saren killed himself. I'm sure a few cameras were still functionning then so getting footage of his suicide won't be too complicated. They won't be happy about it, but they'll have to admit dealing with Reaper tech carries the risk of becoming their servants._

 _On an happier note, Wrex send a mail saying he just became the chief of his clan and that he'll lead them to glory while making sure a second Genophage won't be necessary. So at least that is going well."_

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 **Opinions? Thoughts? Requests? Criticism? Let me know it by writing a review!**


	4. Seeing a few friends

**I'm short on ideas. I mean, I know how I want this story to end, I think, but I have no idea how to get there.**

 **Anyway, here's the new chapter.**

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One of the perks of being a SPECTRE, Gabriel thought, was that his word was law and, even if they had made their displeasure extremely clear during the trip back to the Citadel, Actyn and the crew of the Kuressan had no choice but to do what Gabriel told them to. He would have preferred not to use the "I'm a SPECTRE, do as I say." card, but even after explaining what he knew about indoctrination to the head scientist, Actyn was still reluctant in returning to the Citadel.

"And what am I supposed to tell the journalists? That a SPECTRE's paranoia made him cancel everything?" had asked the angry turian.

"Tell them we had an emergency, a disease or just something we forgot, and that we had to temporarily come back to remedy to it. And don't forget what we told you: daily psych evaluations. Anyone shows reporting hearing voices or having memory loss is replaced as soon as possible. Whole team is replaced every two weeks and don't go anywhere near the vessel or a piece of Sovereign for a period of time longer than an hour for a month after coming back."

"I understand your concern, but it seems a bit excessive."

"Actyn, we're dealing with a ship abandoned for millions of year that was, somehow, still powered and messing with our heads. We can't be too cautious." interjected Ashley.

"Thank you, Williams. I am, as I said, sorry I didn't warn you about that before we left for the vessel. And I would like it if you kept me me informed of anything new you discovered. I'm very interested in learning as much as possible about those ships."

The trip back was uneventful and, once they were back to his apartment, the first thing Gabriel did was write a summary of the last days to the Council, ready to send it if they asked for the report.

"Guys, do you think I overreacted to the Reaper?" he asked his two friends

"Yes." "No." came simultaneously.

"Kaidan" gestured Gabriel.

"I think there was no need for us to leave this quickly. If Saren is any indication, it takes time for the brainwashing to work."

"Ash."

"The salarian we saw on Virmire -the one that was completely crazy- was in contact with Sovereign for far less longer than Saren and he had been reduced to a lunatic so we had to leave as soon as possible."

The next few days were spent waiting for anything new; the Alliance wanting two of it's best soldiers back from the "Spectre business" Gabriel had requested them for, the Council giving him a new assignment, asking for a reason why he canceled the Kuressan's mission,...

It was only a few days later, as Gabriel entered the apartment with the groceries he had brought, that he saw a corner of his computer blinking.

"You've got a mail. Came about half an hour ago." informed Kaidan, reading one of Ashley's book, although Gabriel couldn't see which one. He had read a few pages of her favorite before putting the datapad away. While he enjoyed poetry, it wasn't as much as she did. Kaidan stood up and helped him empty the bags. Gabriel then moved to his computer.

 _"Mr Shepard,_

 _the damage inflicted to what was your ship doesn't match with any of the weapons sold or produced in the last fifty years,which exclude the idea that any pirates, mercenary or army was the one who attacked you. However, analysis of the footage provided by your helmet camera revealed the ship which attacked you may be of Collector origin. Joined to this mail is a dossier on the Collector which I thought would interest you._

 _With respect,_

 _Alhya B'Gani"_

The dossier contained a picture of a Collector, a few of their ship, a description of their known activity, which consisted in buying a few specimens of various species, sapient or not. They operated in the Terminus Systems, nobody really knew where they came from (no ships had come back from the relay they used to access the Omega sector), they had expressed no interest in becoming a member of the galactic community and that was all.

The fact that they operated only in the Terminus was a big problem. The Council had next to no power in those regions and, as such, didn't really care of what happened there. So any form of investigation would be difficult.

Luckily, Gabriel knew a few people.

 _"Hey Wrex, how's the unification of the Krogans going? If you need help, say it and we'll come. Anyway, I leave this message because I need to ask you something. You know that a little more than a week ago, the Normandy was attacked, yes? Well, turns out it's apparently the Collectors who did it and they operate only in the Terminus. And the Citadel doesn't have a lot of authority there. So do you know someone in the Terminus who could help me discovering why a race we know very little about wants to kill me? I hope you do and can give me a way to contact them. Bye."_

"When do you think he'll answer?" asked Ashley

"A few days, I think."

His Omni-Tool rang, signaling someone called him.

"Gabriel Shepard, here."

"Shepard! Oh thanks the spirits! How are you? I saw that the Normandy was destroyed a few days ago"

"Hello, Garrus. Glad to hear you too. I'm fine, I got in the escape pod on time and wasn't hurt or anything. Same for Ashley, Kaidan, Joker, Chakwas and half the crew. We're fine and we're trying to find who did this. And what about you? Having trouble returning to the officer's life?"

"A bit. Chasing Saren involved a lot more of shooting, and less filling forms than being in C-Sec. I'm even starting to miss it."

"If it's only the shooting you're missing, we can always find a shooting range and I'll show you I'm the best with a sniper rifle, Vakarian." said Ashley.

During the weeks spend fighting together, Ashley and Garrus had begun a contest of sorts to see who was the best marksman. So far, they seemed to be even.

"We'll see, Williams. Anyway, I was just calling to see if none of you were hurt during the attack and my break end in a few minutes, so I'll be quick: Do you know who attacked you?"

"The Collectors."

"The Collectors... I don't really know a lot about them, but don't they stay in the Terminus normally?"

"We were on the border with them so it's not that far from their usual area. But yes, And it might interest you but, you know Desaetrus Actyn? An half-destroyed Reaper was found and he's leading the research team studying it. Since it has to do with Reapers, I tought you would like to know."

"Thanks, I'll keep an eye on anything he writes. Okay, I have to go. When can I come see you three?"

"we're free for now. The Council hasn't given me any assignment yet so you can pass by whenever you want."

"Good. I'll call. Good bye."

The call ended.

The only thing they could really do was to wait Wrex's list of contacts.


	5. Off to Illium

**Sorry for the long delay between** **chapters. I'm deep into Overwatch fandom and don't really have ideas for this.**

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Thankfully, they didn't have to wait long for Wrex answer and, the following morning, an e-mail from the krogan awaited for him on his Omni-Tool when Gavbriel woke up.

Like Wrex himself, the message went straight to the point after two sentences expressing his relief they weren't dead and that they vengeance would be successful. What followed next was the name of Onorbal Gemek, a Krogan that had served as Wrex's lawyer and agent of sort for the past few decades and was an information broker that would, Wrex hoped, help them to learn more about the Collectors, though Wrex warned the trio that he most likely would give them information on someone who knew more about their enemies. Gemek lived on Illium, an asari colony at the limit between asari space and the Terminus systems which meant that while Gabriel's SPECTRE status would help them, as would being the one preventing a geth invasion and the death of the Council, it wouldn't allow them access to everything. It wouldn't change much from when they were pursuing Saren, Gabriel mused, since the number of people ready to tell a SPECTRE everything about their activities right from the bat was unsurprisingly low and he didn't like to use the "I'm a SPECTRE, tell me everything or I'll arrest you for life" card. Even then, he doubted "Collectors tried to kill me and I want to know why" would be as effective as "A rogue SPECTRE has an army of geths and we want to stop him" of an incentive for people to tell him everything.

The trip to Illium was spent sleeping and was also quite short, considering they were gone the afternoon following Wrex's message and arrived on the planet by the morning of their spaceport's city. While the view was breathtaking, Gabriel marveled at how much the city seemed to be blue with shades of purple. Probably just an effect of the ocean and the sky reflecting against the buildings, but it was slightly unnerving. There would be more time to visit after meeting Gemek. Thankfully, his office was still where Wrex had indicated it.

"I wonder if Krogans and asari have to pay rent and how they do it?" wondered Ashley when they arrived at the building, "they'll outlive their landlord everytime so do they just write a clause about it when they sign? It must be getting weird after a couple generations, to be the oldest resident, oldest than anyone and to still pay rent for your apartment."

"Since when did rent become such a deep subject?" asked Gabriel

"Since we started to meet more and more asari and krogan. Did you know there's an asari company selling tickets for watching the collapse of a star that won't happen..."

"... until a few thousands years, yes. I've read the story."

They had reached the front of Gemek's office which they entered after ringing. The waiting room was like almost every others in existence: a few chairs along the walls, a low table with a few datapads containing magazines and a few plants. While it was empty, they could vaguely hear someone talking in the other room. Gabriel closed his eyes for a bit. No matter how much he traveled between planets, he still hadnm trouble dealing with arriving in the afternoon after leaving at 3 pm and doing a twelve hours trip.

OAfter ten minutes, the office's door opened and an asari left, thanking Gemek for his help. Gabriel, Ashleyand Kaidan entered.

"Good morning. Do you have an appointment?" asked the krogan, his dark yellow shell shining under the sunlight

"Good morning. I am Gabriel Shepard and this is..."

"...Oh, yes. Wrex told me you'd come, though I didn't think you'd be there until tomorrow. So, Wrex told me you'd need my service but didn't explain why, telling me you'd tell me yourself. If I were too guess I'd say it's about the recent attack you were victim of."

"And you'd be right. We indeed want to know more about our attackers since we found remarkably few informations on the Collectors. And, we would like you to direct use to someone who knows more about them."

"It'll be difficult. Collectors are a rare occurence and while there are plenty scientists, there are very few who study them..."

"How much do you want?" asked an exasperated Ashley

"One thousand two hundreds credits."

"Deal."

During their hunt for Saren, they had acquired an astonishing high number of weapons, armors, Omni-Tools, biotic amps and mods. So much that Gabriel had briefly wondered if, by Citadel law, he could be considered an arms dealer. Thankfully, he wasn't and had found himself owning a ridiculous amounts of credits even after splitting up between them. So what the information broker had asked was nothing, really.

"Her name is Luesia Thegos, she works at Nima University, on Illium. I'm transmitting you its location."

"Thank you for your help, Gemek. And goodbye."

"Have a nice day."

When they passed by the waiting room, it was almost full. It seemed a lot of people needed either a lawyer or an information broker on Illium.

Still, the cab trip to Nima was uneventful and they had all the time to admire the city.

When they got there, the lack of interest passerbys showed toward three heavily armored and armed humans surprised them. Almost as if having fully armored people entering the university and asking to see one of its researchers was a daily occurence.

Still, SPECTRE status not having a lot of meaning in the Terminus, they had to wait for the light blue asqri to finish her lecture.

"Miss Thegos, please, we would like to ask you a few questions about Collectors."

"Fine. What do you want to know?"

"Collectors tried to kill me, do you know why?"

"That's impossible."

"They fired on our ship and destroyed it."

"Unlikely to be them. They're only interested in buying people."

"They fired on... do you know why?"

"Considering it's in too small numbers each time for slave labor, I'd say it's to study them. Are you sure they were the ones attacking you?"

"Completely. Here's a picture we recorded."

When Gabriel showed her the pictures taken during the attack, the asari's brow furrowed.

"It truly is the ship that most of the people who traded with Collectors reported seeing... Were did the attack took place and what were you doing?"

"At the limit between the Terminus and Citadel Space, above Alchera. And we were investigating human ships disappearances."

"Human ships disappearing, Collectors in the same area... If what you say is true, then I think they are the ones to blame for those as well."


End file.
